That Thing Called
by naranjie
Summary: In which one gem's garbage is another gem's treasure. One gem's moving on is the other gem's first step to opening up.
1. That Thing Called

This. Is. Impossible.

"You should have seen Greg's storage unit," Amethyst chortled, slapping her hand to her knee.

"Hey! My unit wasn't as wreck as your room!"

"Duh..! Your unit sucks," said Amethyst. "Yo Peri! Where are you?!" Amethyst screamed in a general direction, the said green gem was nowhere to be found, lost her way as soon as they entered the maze-like room. Amethyst kicked a bust out tire to the nearest pile of hoarded memorabilia, a.k.a. garbage, nearly hitting Greg along the way.

Lapis watched as the two bicker and finally broke apart by Pearl. She was on a mission: **Operation Organize Amethyst's Room**. The purple gem finally agreed to it. Probably to decrease poofing incidents due to wayward corrupted gems in her room and to protect Steven. Greg and the gems just "rolled with it" as insisted by a flushed Amethyst.

Lapis found herself helping her new family? Friends? Earth-bound-fun-buddies? Passively, she kept a ankle-high flow of floating river around the room, kinda like a water conveyer belt directed towards the dumpster truck outside the temple.

"I must say, I'm impressed," Pearl said, nodding appreciately at Lapis and her floating river, "with you and your hydrokinesis and my superior decluttering skills, we will be able to finish cleaning this junkyard of a room in no time!" Pearl exclaimed, starry-eyed.

"Hey!" the room-owner faintly yelled from a distance, "I'll take that as a compliment!"

Pearl deadpanned then grinned awkwardly at Lapis, "All right. Let's do this!".

"Sure," Lapis smiled, then openly laugh when Steven came floating down her river on an inner tube, strumming his beloved ukulele.

"— _ohhhhhhhhhh…_

 _floating down a floating river,_

 _Like how a garbage can._

 _ohhhhhhhhhh…_

 _Floating down a floating river,_

 _Towards the garbage can—"_

"You are not garbage," said Garnet, picking up Steven from the garbage river and relocate him on her hair, "You're a cutie pie". Steven laughed adorably and proceeded to sing while Garnet carried a pile much taller and bigger than her towards the door.

"Oh Steven," Pearl bemoaned but amused.

Chuckling, they finally started to clean up. Five clones later, each from Lapis and Pearl, the huge pile in front of them started to look smaller and more manageable.

Pearl was directing one of her clones when Lapis gasped behind her, her starry-eyes directed at what looks like a television with a stand studded with numbered buttons. Pearl doesn't know what it is but it looks like Lapis does. She watched as Lapis excitedly extracted the thing from their pile without using her water clones. Pearl haven't seen her this enthusiastic since the day Peridot showed her the news of the Camp Pining Hearts remake.

"Amethyst! Hey, Amethyst!" the blue gem called, her voice brimming with excitement.

The said gem literally came in like a wrecking ball, destroying a pile not far from them with a whoop. "Yo Lapis! You called?"

"Amethyst!" Pearl shrieked disapprovingly.

"Yes!" Lapis grinned. "Say Amethyst, can I have this?" she said, gesturing to the excavated contraption that captured her attention.

"What? That old thing?" she eyed the thing and Lapis' giddy smile. "Sure, knock yourself out, gurl."

"Thanks!" the blue gem shouted at Amethyst's rapidly retreating ball form. A vague shriek told them that she found Peridot.

"Er… So what IS that?" Pearl asked as Lapis loaded the thing on a frozen platform and finally on a separate floating river.

"I'll show you later in the barn after this," Lapis said, "It might get destroyed by Amethyst or by my water here." The grin on her face tamed down to a small smile but Pearl could tell that she is still excited and decided that she like it when Lapis is this happy.

"All right." Pearl left it to that to enjoy the lighthearted and productive silence between the two of them.

* * *

"That's the last of it!" said Greg as he clambered on the driver seat of the borrowed dump truck.

"Thanks for helping us dad!" said Steven.

"No problem, son. I just got the coolest hook for a song just now!" he playfully hit the trunk horn in a beat and reached out through the window to ruffle his son's hair, "And after all, some those garbage are mine. It's the least I can do for helping me clean the storage unit". He looked up to the gems with a faint smile.

Amethyst flushed. Pearl gestured an "it was nothing" wave of her hand. Garnet gave him her signature thumbs-up.

Greg waved at the new additions to the gems. "Bye kid!" he addressed Peridot. ("I'm thousand years older than you!") "And nice to meet you, Ms. Lapis!" and finally drove away.

"Ms. Lapis…" Lapis mumbled while walking up to Pearl, "Yup, I like this human universe" she decided.

"Like..?" Pearl looked bewilderedly at Lapis.

"It's nothing" the blue gem replied nonchalantly. Pearl watched as the other's casualness slipped to give way to unwanted awkwardness.

Pearl took a deep yet unneeded breath, raised a hand in a slightly reaching out fashion, and smiled timidly, "So…do you want to show that thing in the barn to me?"

At that moment, Lapis decided that she may also like Pearl.

* * *

In hindsight, she didn't know what she was expecting.

Her first meeting with Lapis was, for the lack of a better term, unfortunate. More unfortunate for the blue gem with being stored in Pearl's gem for more than five millennia added to being cracked and literally trapped in a mirror. Lapis wasn't bubbled unlike the salvaged and hibernating gems in the Burning Room. She wasn't spared from living through thousands of years, fully aware of the nothingness inside Pearl's gem.

It made sense that she wasn't fond of the Crystal Gems, particularly Pearl; "wasn't" being the operative word.

Gradually, the former trapped gem opened up to them. With the effort of the ever charismatic Steven, Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, and even Peridot were able to slowly reach out to the indisposed Lapis. Although the said gem was still relatively distant, Pearl and the others could see the walls Lapis sprung around her were slowly melting away. They left her to her own devices in the barn or in the sky, with an exception to Steven of course, but always leave her the option to join them if she wants.

First, Pearl didn't expect her to agree when she asked Lapis to help them clean Amethyst's room. Pearl is no Steven and Lapis being trapped in Pearl's gem is an elephant too big to ignore while existing in a same room. Yet Lapis acknowledged her and agreed. Steven or not, she managed to interact with the elusive girl, albeit in a purely civil manner. Granted, she managed to get a friendly encounter with Lapis while cleaning Amethyst room, a course of events also beyond Pearl's expectations.

Pearl frowned. It was obvious that Lapis is very fond of Steven, though that is as good as a fact. She might have adapted to Peridot by now, being her barn mate and all, even though they have frequent petty fights. She was also relatively lax around Garnet and seemed to respect her. Even Amethyst might have slowly been able to connect to her, judging from their zealous interaction earlier over some unidentified machine.

The skin around Pearl's gem tightened as her frown deepened. What is that machinery anyway? The technician inside Pearl was brimming with curiosity to tinker the unknown device until she remembered Lapis' excited face. She like to see her that happy again. If that machine can make her smile like that, then maybe Pearl can know the blue gem better while learning about that thing.

"Yup, I like this human universe", she heard Lapis declared.

"Great, now even Greg…" Pearl thought disdainfully. In contrast, her interaction with Lapis was still near all time low. Not for the first time, she felt left out.

Pearl took a deep yet unneeded breath, raised a hand in a slightly reaching out fashion, and smiled timidly, "So…do you want to show that thing in the barn to me?".

Lapis looked at Pearl's uncertain hand. It was somewhat wavering with hesitation but certainly reaching out for her. A tense moment passed and Pearl took it as rejection. Before she knew what she was doing, the blue gem motioned to reached out for it but changed the course of the action to a very weak low-five.

Nailed it.

On a second thought… Steven can live without knowing about that shameful five.

"Okay," she remembered her earlier invitation, "I may need a pair of technician hands that are not Peridot's."

Lapis smirked when Pearl proudly pumped her chest at the word "technician". She was certainly an exceptional Pearl compared to the other Pearls in the Homeworld, before and after the war. At the thought of her old home, Lapis' lopsided smile fell along with her mood.

"Let's go." She said with an about face, her gem stone shone to reveal a pair of water wings and got down on her knee. "I'll fly us there."

If Pearl saw the subtle shift in Lapis' mood, she didn't show it. She did however cross her arms uncertainly and stared down at the kneeling form before her. "Um… Am I supposed to ride your back? I might get in the way of your wings."

With a sigh, Lapis said "Fair enough."

Pearl perceived a burst of air and sight of floating blobs of water before she found herself suspended five meters above the beach. Lapis had her on a hold— one arm under her legs and the other supporting her back. Unsure where to put her hands, Pearl opted to resume her earlier crossed-arms pose.

Lapis smirked.

As an adherent of form and balance, Pearl admitted that there is a certain grace in Lapis' form. Powerful yet malleable. Forceful yet peaceful. Sad and yet, as the forming grin suggested, playful.

"You might want to hang on," she said lightly.

Pearl scampered to take her advice and was just able to fix her arms around Lapis' neck before the latter abruptly flew them higher in the air with a laugh. Terror of falling to their untimely poofing aside, the rushing wind on their faces was liberating and, to Pearl, the once water-logged gem never looked so free until now.

With the initial fear flushed out her system, Pearl found herself laughing along the blue gem. Encouraged by this, Lapis flew up and down the bruising sky, following an invisible roller-coaster track only she can see.


	2. That Thing Called Karaoke?

Their landing into the barn was slightly less eventful than their flight but between Pearl's lanky limbs and the huge hole on Lapis' side of the barn, the former gem somehow found herself stuck to the wrecked wall by her left sock. Needless to say, Lapis thought the situation was funny.

"Get. Me. Down." Pearl said after she gave up on unhooking her foot by herself with a huff.

"PFFFFFFFFFT!"

"OH! Honestly!" The upside-down gem renewed her efforts to get unfasten. "Of all the things she could have learned from Steven…" she mentally ranted _._ Unknown to her, the knot of her bow loosened in her struggles allowing her top to slide along the gravity, exposing he pale midriff and lower back.

Noticing this, Lapis cleared her throat and finally unhooked the other from her wooden trap with a huge water hand she willed out of the smaller-than-average-lake in front of the barn. She rightened the pale gem and gently laid her down the couch. She watched as Pearl immediately sat on one side of the couch and patted her hair down to its usual style in a dignified fashion. The only evidence of her previous predicament is her persistent flushed complexion.

"Um… so… you were going to show me that thing, right? Right." She laughed awkwardly, pointing at the huge machine next to the television. "What is it?"

Lapis would have not let Pearl shift the topic if she weren't reminded of the thing that brought the other gem in the barn in the first place. "Oh this thing? It's called a karaoke," she said eagerly. Pearl didn't show any recognition so she continued, "It's a thing that shows you songs and stuff, and will judge you based on your singing." she pointed at the screen while scavenging for karaoke parts in its compartments.

"So it's a judgmental music box?" Pearl said uncertainly, extending her hand to receive microphones from Lapis. She recognized these from Steven's cute performances and, Pearl frowned, Greg Universe's little band session with… with Rose. Suddenly, the urge to mic-drop was strong.

"Sure. You can put it that way." Lapis shrugged light-heartedly.

Pearl replaced the microphones on the seats of the couch before the urge became too strong and stirred towards the tinkering gem. She watched as Lapis manhandled the plug out of a compartment and plugged it into Peridot's extension cord. Finally, the blue gem hurried in front of the screen of the karaoke to turn it on.

A suspenseful moment came… and went. "Nothing happened," Pearl stated. She turned to look at Lapis' confused and disappointed face and then back to the karaoke when she heard a curious crackling sound. "Lap—Lazuli, are karaokes supposed to smoke?"

"No?" Lapis turned to her incredulously.

"OH MY STARS IT'S SMOKING. PULL OUT THE PLUG!"

Lapis darted to unplug the karaoke but the deed was done and the barn was filled with the smell of burning plastic. Lapis pinched her nose at this and sighed heavily, looking down at the plug in her hand. She felt more than heard as Pearl twirled her weapon to blow away the smoke and smell of singed plastic. With its unintended purpose done, Pearl's spear disappeared with a soft flash and a shower of translucent ribbons.

"Well… That could have gone better," Pearl said jokingly. She looked at Lapis and then the plug on the other gem's hand, "AFortunately, you have a pair of technician hands that are not Peridot's right here!". She smiled at Lapis. Pearl cracked her knuckles and curved them around her gem to summon her toolbox. "Alright. Let's do this!"

* * *

"Argh… Where is it?" Pearl muttered, scrambling her usually neat and tidy tool box in frustration.

Lapis lowered herself to an Indian sit adjacent to the other sitting in seiza, facing the side of the television extracted from the karaoke stand. The blue gem would ask Pearl if she was comfortable sitting on her legs like that but the pale gem looked too rattled for a light-hearted interrogation. "What are you looking for?"

"My #1 Phillips head for my screwdriver," Pearl sighed, "Amethyst probably ate it. _Again._ " She clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"You can use that flat one instead," Lapis pointed out, about to reached for the #1 flathead but decided against it on the last moment.

"That I could," Pearl admitted. "It's just… I hate it when my tools get misplaced or get lost," she picked the said head and placed it in the screwdriver body and unscrewed the back of the television. The flathead did its job but it still felt wrong for Pearl. "And thank you for not touching my tools… without my permission at least," Pearl murmured. Gems and people fiddling around her toolbox without her permission quickly became her peeve ever since life with Amethyst. "I appreciate that," Pearl smiled nervously, "Pass me the #2."

Lapis nodded, interpreted that as permission, "Phillips or Flat?"

"Phillips."

"Here." Lapis put the head on Pearl's waiting hand and got the #1 Flathead from the pale gem's pinched index finger and thumb. Promptly, she replaced the used head in its designated slot in the toolbox.

"I must admit, I didn't think that you would be a kind of gem familiar with human tools."

"You would be if your roommate is that green loud mouth," Lapis countered not unkindly.

"That is true," Pearl chuckled. She beamed a white light inside the broken-down television and inspected its bowels.

"… And if you spend decades with resourceful humans…" Lapis whispered nostalgically, "… before you get trapped in a mirror for millennia." she added in a bitter afterthought. Lapis clapped her hands on her mouth but the words came out.

The beam of light turned off abruptly.

Pearl's eyes widened, her hands slackened around her tools and tightened around each other on her lap. "I—I… I'm sorry," she whispered, her wide eyes sought her Lapis' incredulous ones.

Lapis knew when she fucked up.

"I… I could have freed you… I could have freed you from that mirror but I didn't—" Pearl voice cracked, "I didn't… and I trapped you… trapped you in my gem—"

"You didn't know," Lapis said through her hands, "You didn't know I was there. You… Garnet… Amethyst… I know now that you didn't know at that time." She lowered her hands between her crossed legs and watched as the fabric covering her legs creased below the weight of her hands. "I admit I was resentful. I was suddenly trapped with no way of escaping… the way back home just steps away from me… I was scared but angry." Lapis admitted to her trembling hands, her shoulders drooping, "I was angry mostly at myself for letting that happen. And then you came… I was so tired, so tired of hating myself… I guess, it was easier to hate you."

"Lap— Lazuli… I—"

"You can call me Lapis, you know?" Lapis said, staring right at the other gem's crying eyes.

"Lapis... I'm sorry for not realizing you were there." Pearl said, lowering her eyes to her trembling hands only to find them covered with Lapis' blue hand.

"I know," she squeezed Pearl's hands in what she hoped an understanding manner. The shaking gem covered the blue gem's hand and squeezed back, hunched over their intertwined hands. "And thank you…"

Pearl stared up to her in astonishment.

Lapis suddenly remembered the pale gem's uncertain hand, reaching out for her. _"So…do you want to show that thing in the barn to me?"_

She extended her other hand over Pearl's, smiling tearfully, "…Thank you for reaching out for me."

* * *

Author's Notes:

So yeah, that thing was a karaoke. This is supposed to be a oneshot about karaoke but I can't even go there without all these drama. Closure is important after all. That oneshot was inspired by .com's Suman AU where Lapis is a Filipino. Send them love 3

For those who may become wary of misrepresenting the alleged "Filipino" culture (a term I find problematic but won't discuss here), I lived my whole life in the Philippines so I guess I got that covered. But if still got question or concern, just review here or message me on tumblr. If not, you guys are still welcome to review or message.

I'm sorry in advance for the grammatical mistakes that probs slipped me.


	3. That Thing Is Called Karaoke

"I am afraid this television is done for," Pearl muttered through her fingers, the back of her hand covered with layers of fine dust from the said machine "The circuit is burned… probably due to the sudden connection to a power source after all these years," she wondered out loud, her gem projecting a holographic image of the television, "Of course, the 110 volts input to a 220-volt machine is supposed to be negligible but power is power," Pearl continued, pointing along the moving arrows of her cross-sectional projection. "Then again, the cathode ray tube screen was already out of order," her projection zooming to the said anomaly, "Lucky for us, you short-circuited it," Pearl said, nodding approvingly and missing the other gem's jolt "Electricity flowing to the cathode ray tubes could have caused an explosion!" said the technician, raising her hands akin to an imaginary boom while her gem projected a holographic detonation, "Or at least a fire."

Lapis listened to the educational monologue with a bemused yet amused smile, narrowly avoiding Pearl's arms at the other gem's animated explanation. In the midst of trying to fix the machine, the two became physically closer, both sitting at the back of the bare television. Comforted by another being peacefully existing beside her, the water gem welcomed the newfound intimacy, dangerous elbows and all.

After a long period of time in isolation, Lapis sought for company and the irony was not lost to the water gem. Traitor to the Homeworld, veteran of the opposite faction of the war, and the unwitting warden of her reflective cell; nonetheless Lapis was content to find company in this particular pearl that is also a—

"Nerd."

Pearl deadpanned at this, "Let me guess. Amethyst."

"Peridot actually," Lapis grinned, "She keeps calling you and herself 'wondernerds'."

"Amethyst it is," drawled the pale gem, "Honestly, you and Peridot learn the most outrageous of things," she side-eyed the water gem, scandalized. Pearl stood to stretch out her long limbs and smirked down at Lapis, eyes filled with intent. "Thankfully, this wondernerd knows what to do in this situation."

Lapis watched as the other gem lifted her and Peridot's shared television from its humble stand and unto the karaoke stand. "I remember setting aside some usable human technology inside Amethyst's room," she said, already taking mental notes of things she will need, "You can still watch your prerecorded romantic documentary in this one while I fix the other one." Pearl added, tinkering around the karaoke machine's assortments of cords while ignoring Lapis' aggravated "It's Camp Pining Hearts."

After some minutes and mumbled, "… Red to red… yellow to yellow…" Pearl dusted off her hands. "Alright. I think we're all set," she announced. "Lapis… will you do the honors?" Pearl said as she presented the karaoke.

Lapis leaped to her feet at this and confirmed with an enthusiastic nod. Like a child (or a child at heart adult) tempted by a huge "Press Here" sticker on an animated toy, the water gem pushed the switch of the karaoke excitedly, eager to see the machine at work.

And work, it did. The barn is filled with reverberation from the karaoke's speakers until triumphant trumpets and the words "Choose a Song" filled the screen. Pearl watched as the usually stoic gem practically shook in excitement. Her eyes filled with child-like nostalgia. The alleged wondernerd mentally pat herself at the back for thinking of an alternative. She always felt immense satisfaction after a job well-done but seeing the blue gem this happy certainly added to Pearl's fulfillment. She smiled fondly at the back of the other gem until the said gem turned to her.

"Thank you," the water gem said breathlessly, "Wondernerd."

"…Anytime… Wet uh… Stone," Pearl replied awkwardly, flustered.

Lapis laughed at this with a snort, "Ok, you work on that, nerd. In the mean time, let's sing!" she said, pulling Pearl's hand towards the couch. They settled on the furniture with a pair of _oofs_ , more heartily in Lapis' case. She reached for the microphones stuck between the cushions of the seats and turned on one only to turn it off again after the speakers roared in protest. Lapis giggled nervously at Pearl, "I forgot about that," she stood towards the biggest of the compartments of the karaoke stand and took out the songbook, "Here, choose a song."

Pearl peruse the book uncertainly, "What kind of book is this? I can't understand half of it." She squinted at the columned text, "Is this another language?", the pale gem asked, fingers gracefully skimming the tabled song choices. She also took note of the numbers besides in the first column, as if series of serial numbers. "Can you understand these?"

"Oh! Yes, that's actually written in Tagalog, one of the languages in the islands where I used to live," Lapis said fondly. "I forgot that you guys can't speak it."

Pearl looked at the water gem's expression and hand lovingly tracing some of the text, "How did you learn this language, Lapis?" she asked. The question seemed to startle the other. Pearl wondered if she said something wrong and was about to apologize when Lapis bounded for the karaoke machine to punched down six numbers.

"Otso! Nueve! Nueve! Dos! Siete! Dos!" the machine announced.

"This is one of my favorite songs!" Lapis told Pearl as she took one of the microphones and turning it on. It didn't produce a feedback this time, Pearl was thankful for that, instead the song's instrumental started playing. Written on screen were the words "Buhos ng Ulan by Regine Velasquez" and numbers counting down to 3… 2… 1…

" _Pagmasdan ang ulan, unting-unting pumapatak,  
Sa mga halama't mga bulaklak…_"

The water gem crooned to the microphone, eyes shut. Her sung words were in time to the music despite the fact that the said gem was definitely not reading the lyrics. Pearl watched starry-eyed at the gem's performance, clinging on the soulful singing voice from the usually impassive girl, body swaying unconsciously to the beat of the music. She may not understand the words but at that moment Pearl understood that there is more than to the usually stoic gem than she let on. And Pearl was determined to learn more about this blue gem.

"… _Minsan pa ulan, bumuhos ka,  
Huwag nang tumigil pa…_"

The song and the singer were now escalating in energy and passion, filling the barn with magnified music. Its bass echoed the pumping inside Pearl's chest, leaving her breathless despite not needing air.

"… _Pag-ibig ko'y umaapaw,  
Damdamin ko'y humihiyaw sa tuwa!  
Tuwing umuulan at kapiling ka!_"

The pale gem gasped in her hands at Lapis' stylistic vocalization, reaching notes only Pearl can reach among other Crystal Gems. Lapis heard this and blushed at the other gem's attention, turning to face the high-lighting lyrics she obviously doesn't need. She sung some more _la la la_ as the screen instructed, never missing a beat. She turned to the pale gem as sang the last monoslyllables to a decrescendo.

The said gem inhaled, "You—"

Loud trumpet sounds filled the barn while a large 97 filled the screen. Underneath this were the bold words, "You're an AMAZING singer!", digitalized confetti falling in the background.

"97?!" Pearl screeched indignantly, marching towards the karaoke machine. "This is out of 100 points, right?" she demanded Lapis, who nodded, "There must be an error. She clearly deserves a perfect score!" she pointed accusingly at the karaoke screen.

"Pearl… Pearl! It's ok," Lapis said, putting a hand on one of Pearl's shoulder. Her face still flushed from singing, "I kinda tweaked the song to my liking so it's okay."

"Oh," that calmed the pale gem, "I—I thought—well… You ARE an amazing singer and sang so beautifully so I thought… I thought I did something wrong and broke the machine". The pale gem blushed teal at her previous injustice and lowered her accusing finger from the screen. "I guess, it IS a judgmental music box," she joked feebly.

"Yeah," Lapis grinned brightly, "Yeah, it is."

* * *

EDIT: You can listen to the featured song here :) : watch?v=hSES6fIk34o

My loose translations of the excerpts:

 _"Watch the rain, as it slowly falls,_  
 _On the plants and flowers..."_

 _"...Rain, come fall again,_  
 _Don't ever stop..."_

 _"My love is overflowing._  
 _My feelings are shouting with joy!_  
 _Every time it's raining and I'm with you!"_

Lapis is a songbird #blessed

From experience, Regine Velasquez is that artist that is always sung in every Filipino karaoke session lol Everyone and anyone knows "Tuwing Umuulan" whether they like it or not.


	4. Drop the Mic

Lapis sung a few more songs (much to the other's delight), stealing peeks at her captured audience every now and then. Pearl was not a passive spectator, the blue gem discovered again and again. Indeed, she was vocal, _ooh_ -ing and _ahh_ -ing at suitable times, e.g. whenever the blue gem hit the high and low notes just right or when the other demonstrates the capacity of her formed lungs particularly in long vocalizations frequent in this particular artist's songs.

Lapis was very particular in picking this certain artist's songs, Pearl observed. This Regine Velasquez… the blue gem even turned to a section of the song dedicated to this artist and her songs. "She might be Lapis' favorite," the pale gem concluded.

Pearl was clapping her hands at the water gem's score (98 this time, the blue gem's average score) when Lapis turned to slump next to her on the couch, "Ahhhh that was fun…" the blue gem sighed, "Still choosing a song?" She asked, pointing at the closed songbook on Pearl's lap with her lips. She straightened up, twisting her body to face the other gem who was sitting on her side of the couch in a regal seiza. "You should sing. I want to hear you sing," She offered the other microphone to the pale gem, "Sing for me, Pearl."

Lapis expected embarrassed hesitance or a weak refusal or maybe even a confident affirmative with a challenging smirk. What she didn't expect was a tensed up Pearl and a sharp—

"No!"

"Pearl, wha—"

"You can't make me! Y-you… It is because I'm a pearl?!" Pearl wasn't looking at her but the water gem could see the distress in the usually proud gem.

Chill reached Lapis' core, realization flooded her with vengeance. "What?! No, no! Pearl, I—" She grabbed the other's thin shoulders— "Pearl, I'm sorry. It isn't like that…" Lapis searched for the pale gem's heavy eyes, hoping to convey her regret in her own, "I didn't want you to sing for me because you are a pearl… that I want you to serve me," Pearl stared at her at this, "I wanted to hear you sing for you… for you to also have fun…" The blue gem retreated to the far side of the couch, hugging her legs close, "I messed up. I'm sorry."

It was darker now; the only source of light was the karaoke glaring down on the both of them, lighting the bangs that provided the water gem cover from the taller of the two. The panning titles and corresponding numbers didn't register to Pearl but it was a much needed distraction, "I never sung for anybody," Pearl said softly, fiddling with the crackling plastic covering of the songbook, "ever since… ever since Rose disappeared." The pale gem exhaled deeply, extending her feet to the floors, meeting the wood with quiet tiptoes. She laughed nostalgically at a distant memory, "Rose… She said that I should sing for myself. Dance for myself. Live…" The silent _for myself_ was left in the air, "I did. I do… It made her happy and I was happy," she intertwined her long fingers on her lap, "Her happiness was my everything and she made me feel like I was… everything."

Chilled wind entered the barn from the huge gaping hole beside the two gems, drawing attention to the stillness of the two.

Lapis peeked through her hair and watched as the other slowly relaxed her posture despite the extending her legs into points like second nature. In the soft light of the karaoke screen and even softer light from the rising moon behind the blue gem, Pearl was a sight to behold; the gem in her forehead diffusing the already soft lighting, illuminating her large eyes, her skin soft to the eyes and probably to the touch. She was made to be this soft and delicate, pretty and dolled-up. Lapis knew these thoroughly, but this particular pearl in front of her was beyond pretty above all now while she put into words and actions her deep affections for the late Rose Quartz.

Pearl heaved a unnecessary sigh, more for impulse than for respiration, and finally faced the other gem, "I apologize for lashing out on you, Lapis," she squeezed her linked hands tighter, "I know you are trying… I still am. It's hard to forget about Homeworld even after all of these years… I understand. I'm still learning." Pearl fiddled around with the microphones, lining them properly, side by side. "If you want… if you're willing," she grasped one of them, and offered the other to the water gem, "you can learn with me."

The said gem lowered her leg on the floor and took the offered microphone, warm from the other gem's handling. In addition to soft and beautiful, Pearl was also warm. It was probably another adaptation brought about by the Earth's environment yet Lapis found this soothing. The pale gem was so different from the other pearls she helped created back in the Homeworld. Back in the Homeworld, pearls like her, with gems unfortunately rolled around the wrong way by lapis lazulis would be destroyed by the same lapis lazulis who created them. Such was the fate of pearls, made-to-order to be perfect, to be pretty, and to serve; they didn't stand a chance against the water and gems that made them.

"But you did," Lapis thought thankfully and smiled tentatively at the one-of-a-kind pearl. The pale gem took this as a yes and pulled her legs closer to the couch, feet still at tiptoes, elevating the suddenly opened songbook on her lap.

"Oh! I understand this word," Pearl pointed out to Lapis, her cheeks tinged with teal, before tapping her finger to her pursed lips in rapt concentration. "Let's see… the corresponding numbers are… Two. Nine. Eigh—"

"Wait! W—what are you doing?"

"Choosing a song." Pearl said this with the air of "isn't it obvious?"

"Is this okay?" The blue gem grabbed her blue hair, confused, "Are you okay with this?" Her eyes wild, searching for any clues of her control over the taller gem. She didn't find any, Pearl's agency still on her own gem.

Pearl simply closed the songbook and punched in the numbers on the karaoke ("Dos! Nueve! Otso! Otso! Dos! Dos!"), and turned on her own microphone and spoke to it, "Yes, I'm okay with this," she extended her free hand to the gem on the couch, more confident unlike her previous attempt back in the beach, "I want to sing for me… I want to sing with you."

Lapis laughed in relief, this time, also successfully accepted the offered hand and jumped on her feet in thrill that turned to excitement at the drop of the first notes of the song, "Oh stars! I love this song!"

"Um… I don't know this song," the pale gem gasped, eyes widening with realization and panic. She did pick the song at random.

"It's okay. It's easy to learn," the water gem assured her, gently squeezing the gem's hand. "Follow my lead," she winked then turned to the screen as it showed the countdown 4… 3… 2… 1…

" _Baby, let's cruise, away from here,"_ Lapis crooned without looking at the words, eyes prompting Pearl to do the opposite.

" _Don't be confused, the way is clear,"_ Pearl sung, following the highlighting words on the screen and the blue gem's lead, uncertain at first but slowly gaining confidence.

" _And if you want it you got it forever. This is not a one night stand,"_ Lapis continued, her singing laced with joyful laughter. _"Let the music take your mind,"_ she swayed their still interlocked hands playfully, clueing in the other gem to follow through.

Pearl understood and sung boldly, _"Ooh just release and you will find,"_ Confident that she understood the rhythm and the slowly building melody of the song, the pale gem and Lapis sung in tandem:

" _You're gonna fly away, glad you're goin' my way  
I love it when we're cruising together  
The music is played for love,  
Cruising is made for love  
I love it when we're cruising together"_

Lapis wasn't lying when she said the song was easy to learn and even easier to sing. It was slow and repetitive in a comforting way, not unlike the gentle waves of a calm sea. The repeating lyrics also helped and Pearl soon found herself not needing the words on the screen and instead invested on the other gem. She gazed at the blue gem as she crooned another, _"You're gonna fly away, glad you're goin' my way._ "

The other turned deep blue at this and answered, " _I love it when we're cruising together._ " Slowly, she closed the space between them and put their linked hands at the back of Pearl's neck, leading the other in an unhurried sway to the beat of their singing. The other let her lead themselves along a small circle only the two of them can see, finding beauty in the purposeless steps. At the last notes and their last lines, Pearl extended their entwined hands above the smaller gem and twirled her for a dip as the song droned to a decrescendo— only to find herself falling on the said gem, thankfully to the not so distant floor.

"Augh… Note to self: Don't twirl with microphones with cords," Lapis winced but otherwise unhurt. Thanks to Pearl's quick thinking and even quicker hand at the back of her head.

The said gem was staring down at her, chest heaving from the sudden exertion, and cheeks darkening to a pleasing teal. She was close, less than an arm's reach when she hooked the length of her arm to protect both Lapis' gem and head. Lapis could easily reach her with her free ha—

Thundering trumpets filled the barn for the nth time that night but none was as unwelcomed as this one, "Uwah!" exclaimed the two, disentangling themselves from each other and from the cords of the microphones. The water gem even more so after finding herself securely wrapped with the thick cord. Pearl was first to gather her bearings and half-laughed half-helped the hogtied gem. "Sorry about that," the pale gem said, the mirth in her voice betraying the sincerity of her apology.

"No you're not," Lapis deadpanned.

"No I'm not," the other gem just agreed.

"Nerd," was the blue gem's reply, turning to the karaoke, "Oh woah! We got a hundred!" Lapis jumped in joy, grabbing the pale gem's hand and attention.

"Oh my gosh, you're right!" Pearl screamed, mirroring the water gem's excitement, "A hundred! A perfect score! We got a perfect score! We were perfect!" She laughed as she hugged the smaller gem close, much to the both party's surprise.

Lapis was shocked at the sudden proximity but accepted the contact before the other could withdraw her arms, even encouraged them with an embrace of her own. Soon, the tension and exhilaration in both gems subsided, opting to savor the intimate nearness in the midst of the trumpets of the karaoke. Finally, the two gems separated yet become closer together. Lapis smile turned to a smirk, "Next time, drop the mic not your partner."

Pearl gave a start at the water gem's first words but lowered her lids to accompany a simper of her own, "I will drop what I can catch," she promised.

* * *

Ooops they didn't fuse. I hope you enjoyed this chap as much as I enjoyed writing it at 3 in the morning! Inspiration was a bitch but I love this wrong-timing bitch.

I reckon that you guys already know the song in this chapter but for those who don't (which is I must admit, amazing), the song is "Cruisin'" by Gwyneth Paltrow & Huey Lewis. You can enjoy it here: yt /watch?v=U_HaoZ73wWg


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